Electric blower

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention provide an electric blower, including a diffuser having a cover and an impeller sequentially disposed at one side in a shaft direction thereof, a front disposed at the other side in the shaft direction of the diffuser, and an elastic body mounted between the front and the diffuser to support the diffuser.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of and priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Korean Patent Application No. KR 10-2014-0061649, entitled “ELECTRIC BLOWER,” filed on May 22, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into this application.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electric blower.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, an electric blower, which is a main body includes a cover and a housing. Further, the electric blower includes, for example, an impeller, a diffuser, and a front, which are installed in an inner space formed by an assembly of the cover and the housing and is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0014080.

However, the electric blower according to the conventional art, as described, for example, in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0014080 has a structure in which the diffuser and the front are completely fixed to each other by screws, and therefore it is difficult to manage a tip clearance between an impeller and a cover at a predetermined level.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, embodiments of the invention have been made to manage a tip clearance of an electric blower, which may not be solved by the conventional art, as described, for example, in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0014080.

According to at least one embodiment of the invention, there is provided an electric blower capable of easily managing a tip clearance between a cover and an impeller by improving a coupling relationship between a diffuser and a front.

According to at least one embodiment of the invention, there is provided an electric blower including a diffuser having a cover and an impeller sequentially disposed at one side in a shaft direction of the diffuser, a front disposed at the other side in the shaft direction thereof, and an elastic body mounted between the front and the diffuser to support the diffuser.

According to at least one embodiment of the invention, the electric blower uses the elastic body to improve the coupling relationship between the diffuser and the front, thereby easily managing the tip clearance between the cover and the impeller configured for introduction of the external air.

According to at least one embodiment of the invention, the electric blower generally uses the impeller in the compressor form to implement the miniaturization and the high-speed rotation. In this case, the tip clearance between the impeller and the cover acts as a factor, which greatly affects the performance.

Further, since the impeller is generally mass-produced using a mold, it is very difficult to manage a tolerance between the components and thus it is difficult to constantly manage the interval between the cover and the impeller at a desired level.

To manage the tip clearance, the coupling relationship between the diffuser and the front provided in the electric blower to guide the external air introduced by the impeller is important. In this case of seating the diffuser in the front and then configuring the coupling relationship for completely fixing the diffuser and the front using the screws, when the impeller is seated on the diffuser and then the cover is laid, the end of the diffuser first contacts the cover, and thus the tip clearance between the inside of the cover and the impeller may not be managed.

Therefore, the electric blower according to at least one embodiment of the invention disposes the elastic body, which is repeatedly compressed and restored due to the material characteristics, such as rubber and sponge, or is repeatedly compressed and restored due to the structural characteristics, such as spring between the diffuser and the front to allow the elastic body to fluidly move the diffuser using the front as the support.

According to at least one embodiment of the invention, the elastic body elastically supports the diffuser to move the cover and the diffuser while compressing the elastic body after the cover is mounted and the cover and the diffuser again returns by the restoring force of the elastic body at the time of decompression to manage the tip clearance between the impeller and the cover at the desired level.

Meanwhile, the electric blower rotates the impeller, which is assembled with the shaft. According to at least one embodiment of the invention, the assembling of the impeller with the shaft is generally implemented by inserting the end of the shaft into the impeller and then bonding them, such that the impeller is separated from the shaft at the time of the high rotation of the impeller and the decomposition of the impeller for replacement is not implemented.

Therefore, in the electric blower according to at least one embodiment of the invention, a hexagonal nut is embedded in the impeller and the impeller is screw-fastened with the shaft of which the end is inserted into the impeller in a shaft direction by the hexagonal nut. Thus, the hexagonal nut blocks a sliding between the shaft and the impeller at the time of the rotation of the impeller to prevent the separation phenomenon from occurring. Further, the assembling of the impeller and the nut more easily assembles the impeller and the shaft than the bonding process.

According to at least one embodiment of the invention, the nut is fastened with the end of the shaft in a direction opposite to a direction in which the impeller rotates. Thus, for example, in the case in which the impeller rotates clockwise along the shaft, when the left-hand thread nut is applied, the impeller is more tightened at the time of the rotation of the impeller, and thus the separation phenomenon of the impeller is easily prevented.

Meanwhile, the assembling structure of the impeller and the shaft using the nut is easily applied to the electric blower configuring the coupling relationship between the diffuser and the front using the elastic body as will be described in more detail below and the electric blower configuring the coupling relationship between the known diffuser and front.

Various objects, advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the invention are better understood with regard to the following Detailed Description, appended Claims, and accompanying Figures. It is to be noted, however, that the Figures illustrate only various embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of the invention's scope as it may include other effective embodiments as well.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state before a cover of an electric blower according to a first embodiment of the invention is mounted.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are cross-sectional views illustrating a coupling between components of the electric blower according to the first embodiment of the invention and an operation thereof.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an electric blower according to a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of main parts of the electric blower according to the second embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods of accomplishing the same will be apparent by referring to embodiments described below in detail in connection with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below and may be implemented in various different forms. The embodiments are provided only for completing the disclosure of the present invention and for fully representing the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art.

For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the discussion of the described embodiments of the invention. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First Embodiment

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, an electric blower 100, according to a first embodiment of the invention, includes a diffuser 110, a front 120, and an elastic body 130. According to at least one embodiment, the elastic body 130 includes a spring 131. The electric blower has a structure in which the diffuser 110 is disposed at a lower portion in a shaft direction of the impeller 140 in the drawings to guide introduced air and the front 120 is disposed at a lower portion of the diffuser 110 in a shaft direction to support the diffuser 110, and the elastic body 130 is mounted between the front 120 and the diffuser 110.

According to at least one embodiment, the impeller 140 is provided so that upper ends of wings 141 for introduction of air, for example, are exposed to the outside and thus an inlet 151 into which external air is introduced is received in the cover 150, which is formed at a central portion of the electric blower 100. According to at least one embodiment, the electric blower 100 has a structure in which the wings 141 are disposed between the cover 150 and the impeller 140.

According to at least one embodiment, the diffuser 110 and the front 120 are sequentially disposed at a lower portion of the impeller 140 and the elastic body 130 is mounted between the diffuser 110 and the front 120, such that the elastic body 130 elastically supports the diffuser 110 to flexibly move the diffuser 110 using the front 120 as a support.

According to at least one embodiment, the elastic body 130 is easily implemented by disposing the spring 131, which is repeatedly compressed and restored due to the structural characteristics between the diffuser 110 and the front 120. In this case, the lower portion of the diffuser 110 is provided with the support part 111 provided with a receiving space 111 a, so that the spring 131 keep the easily mounted state without being separated.

Thus, when the spring 131 is mounted and then a position change due to the fine motion of the spring 131, for example, occurs, the assembling position is changed and therefore the support part 111 having the receiving space 111 a is provided at the lower portion of the diffuser 110 in the drawings. Further, the support parts 111 are each provided at both sides of the lower portion of the diffuser 110 to keep a balance.

According to at least one embodiment, the front 120 is configured to include a seating part 121 for seating the spring 131 and a coupling part 122 which is integrally bent down from the seating part 121 to be fixed to the housing and is disposed between the housing (not illustrated) and the diffuser 110 while a center of the front 120 being provided with a bearing assembling part 123 for receiving a bearing.

According to at least one embodiment, the front 120 has a structure in which the coupling part 122 for fastening with the housing is provided with a plurality of fastening holes (not illustrated) and a center of the bearing assembling part 123 is provided with a through hole 124 to make a shaft 263 penetrate therethrough in a shaft direction.

Meanwhile, the diffuser 110 has a structure in which a cover seating part 112 is protrudedly formed on the upper portion of the diffuser 110 and the guide part 113 is bent down along an edge of a circumference thereof, in which an end of the cover seating part 112 contacts an inner side of the cover 150.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, that is, when the impeller 140 is disposed on the diffuser 110 and then the cover 150 is laid on the impeller 140, the inner side of the cover 150 first contacts the end of the cover seating part 112 of the diffuser 110.

Therefore, the cover 150 and the diffuser 110 move while the spring 131 received in the receiving space 111 a of the support part 111 is compressed by pressing the diffuser 110 and the cover 150 downwardly and the diffuser 110 and the cover 150 move until the inner side of the cover 150 contacts the wings 141 of the impeller 140. Thus, the tip clearance becomes a zero (0) state.

When a pressure compressing the spring 131 is released in the state in which the tip clearance is the zero (0) state, the cover 150 and the diffuser 110 return upward by the restoring force of the spring 131, such that there is an interval between the impeller 140 and the cover 150, thereby managing the tip clearance at a desired level.

Second Embodiment

As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, an electric blower 200, according to a second embodiment of the invention, includes an impeller 240, a shaft 263 with which the impeller 240 is assembled in a shaft direction, and a nut 201 which fastens the shaft 263 with the impeller 240 to assemble the shaft 263 and the impeller 240. In addition, the electric blower 200 further includes a diffuser 210 in which the impeller 240 is disposed at one side in the shaft direction thereof, a cover seating part 212 contacting an inner side of the cover 250 is provided, and a guide part 213 guiding air introduced through an inlet 251 of the cover 250 is formed at an edge of a circumference thereof, a front 220, and a spring 231 mounted in a receiving space 211 a formed at the support part 211 of the diffuser 210.

According to at least one embodiment, a configuration of the diffuser 210, the front 220, the spring 231, and the cover 250 and a coupling relationship and an acting effect of the components are already described in detail in the first embodiment of the invention, and therefore it is to be noted that the configuration of the impeller 240, the shaft 263, and the nut 201 and a coupling relationship and an acting effect thereof will be mainly described below.

According to at least one embodiment, the impeller 240 has a configuration in which the wings 241 for introduction of air is provided in a streamlined shape and a central portion thereof is formed in a hollow shape so that an end 263 a of the shaft 263 is inserted. Further, the central portion of the impeller 240 is provided with a nut receiving space 242, so that the nut 201 screw-fastened with the end 263 a of the inserted shaft 263 is embedded.

According to at least one embodiment, the end 263 a is inserted into the impeller 240 and thus the shaft 263 fastened with the nut 201 is provided at a rotor rotating along a stator configuring a motor 260 of a cleaner to rotate the impeller 240 and the end 263 a sequentially penetrates through the front 220 and the diffuser 210 and then is inserted into a central portion of the impeller 240.

Meanwhile, the nut 201 is screw-fastened with the end 263 a of the shaft 263, which is inserted into the central portion of the impeller 240 to prevent the shaft 263 and the impeller 240 from sliding. Therefore, as the nut 201, a hexagonal nut, which more easily prevents the sliding, is adopted and the hexagonal nut is embedded in the nut receiving space 242, and thus is screw-fastened with the end 263 a of the shaft 263.

Further, as the nut 201, a left-hand thread nut 201 is adopted in the impeller 240 rotating clockwise along the shaft 263 and thus the impeller 240 is more tightened during the rotating process to easily prevent the impeller 240 from separating.

According to at least one embodiment, the motor 260 for a cleaner configured of the stator 261 and the rotor 262, the front 220, and the diffuser 210 in an inner space 271 of a cylindrically formed housing 270 are sequentially formed and then the assembling of the impeller 240 and the shaft 263 using the nut 201 is performed and a decomposition for replacement is performed in a reverse order.

Therefore, unlike the existing electric blower which performs the bonding treatment for assembling the impeller 240 and the shaft 263, the impeller 240, according to at least one embodiment, is easily replaced even when defects of the impeller 240 occur, thereby effectively improving assembling performance and mass production.

Terms used herein are provided to explain embodiments, not limiting the present invention. Throughout this specification, the singular form includes the plural form unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. When terms “comprises” and/or “comprising” used herein do not preclude existence and addition of another component, step, operation and/or device, in addition to the above-mentioned component, step, operation and/or device.

Embodiments of the present invention may suitably comprise, consist or consist essentially of the elements disclosed and may be practiced in the absence of an element not disclosed. For example, it can be recognized by those skilled in the art that certain steps can be combined into a single step.

The terms and words used in the present specification and claims should not be interpreted as being limited to typical meanings or dictionary definitions, but should be interpreted as having meanings and concepts relevant to the technical scope of the present invention based on the rule according to which an inventor can appropriately define the concept of the term to describe the best method he or she knows for carrying out the invention.

The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Similarly, if a method is described herein as comprising a series of steps, the order of such steps as presented herein is not necessarily the only order in which such steps may be performed, and certain of the stated steps may possibly be omitted and/or certain other steps not described herein may possibly be added to the method.

The singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

As used herein and in the appended claims, the words “comprise,” “has,” and “include” and all grammatical variations thereof are each intended to have an open, non-limiting meaning that does not exclude additional elements or steps.

As used herein, the terms “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. The term “coupled,” as used herein, is defined as directly or indirectly connected in an electrical or non-electrical manner. Objects described herein as being “adjacent to” each other may be in physical contact with each other, in close proximity to each other, or in the same general region or area as each other, as appropriate for the context in which the phrase is used. Occurrences of the phrase “according to an embodiment” herein do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment.

Ranges may be expressed herein as from about one particular value, and/or to about another particular value. When such a range is expressed, it is to be understood that another embodiment is from the one particular value and/or to the other particular value, along with all combinations within said range.

Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made hereupon without departing from the principle and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be determined by the following claims and their appropriate legal equivalents. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An electric blower, comprising: a diffuser comprising a cover and an impeller sequentially disposed at one side in a shaft direction thereof; a front disposed at the other side in the shaft direction of the diffuser; and an elastic body mounted between the front and the diffuser to support the diffuser.
 2. The electric blower of claim 1, wherein the diffuser comprises a support part provided with a receiving space in which the elastic body is received.
 3. The electric blower of claim 1, wherein the elastic body is configured of a spring.
 4. The electric blower of claim 1, wherein the diffuser further comprises a cover seating part formed to contact an inner side of the cover, which is mounted outside the impeller; and a guide part formed at an edge of a circumference thereof to guide air introduced through an inlet of the cover.
 5. The electric blower of claim 1, further comprising: a shaft of which an end is inserted into the impeller in the shaft direction; and a nut fastened with the end of the shaft, being embedded in the impeller.
 6. The electric blower of claim 5, wherein the nut is configured of a hexagonal nut.
 7. The electric blower of claim 5, wherein the nut is screw-fastened with the end of the shaft in a direction opposite to a direction in which the impeller rotates.
 8. An electric blower, comprising: a cover having a central portion provided with an inlet into which air is introduced; an impeller provided with a wing which is disposed between the impeller and the cover; a diffuser comprising the impeller disposed at one side in a shaft direction thereof and protrudedly provided with a cover seating part contacting an inner side of the cover; a front configured to be disposed at the other side in the shaft direction of the diffuser; and an elastic body configured to be mounted between the front and the diffuser to support the diffuser.
 9. The electric blower of claim 8, wherein the diffuser comprises a support part provided with a receiving space in which the elastic body is received.
 10. The electric blower of claim 8, wherein the elastic body is configured of a spring.
 11. The electric blower of claim 8, wherein the diffuser further comprises a guide part formed at an edge of a circumference thereof to guide air introduced through the inlet.
 12. The electric blower of claim 8, further comprising: a shaft of which an end is inserted into the impeller in the shaft direction; and a nut fastened with the end of the shaft, being embedded in the impeller.
 13. The electric blower of claim 12, wherein the nut is configured of a hexagonal nut.
 14. The electric blower of claim 12, wherein the nut is screw-fastened with the end of the shaft in a direction opposite to a direction in which the impeller rotates.
 15. An electric blower, comprising: a cover; an impeller provided with a wing to introduce external air through an inlet formed on the cover; a shaft of which an end is inserted into the impeller in a shaft direction; and a nut fastened with the end of the shaft, being embedded in the impeller.
 16. The electric blower of claim 15, wherein the nut is configured of a hexagonal nut.
 17. The electric blower of claim 15, wherein the nut is screw-fastened with the end of the shaft in a direction opposite to a direction in which the impeller rotates. 